USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 83
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
While in the university, Mr. Gillespie formed the acquaintance of Ilelen Zimmer- man, to whom he was married in 1874. This excellent and talented woman has been a true helpmeet to her husband, in every word and work since their marriage.
Mr. Gillespie was appointed superintend- ent of the Nebraska school for the deaf and dumb in 1878, taking charge of the institu- tion on the first day of September, of that year, where he still remains, and where most of his work for the deaf has been done. It was through him that the idea of developing the latent hearing remaining to many of the deaf was first brought about. Through his method, many children who would other- wise be deaf and dumb are simply hard of hearing. His latest scheme in connection
with the education of that class of pupils is the devising of a plan of presenting lan- guage to them, which he calls "the complete thought method;" which is found to be a very satisfactory plan of work for deaf and dumb children.
The subject of this sketch has been more or less connected with organized charity work of Omaha. He has been correspond- ing secretary of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. He is a Grand Army man, a Presbyterian and a Republi- can. Under his administration, the institu- tion over which he presides has ever sus- tained an enviable reputation as progressive and original as to methods, and in a marked degree has been successful as to results.
GEORGE PAUL ALBRECHT GROSS- MANN .- The father of the subject of this sketch was Julius Grossmann, a descendant of a long line of successful merchants, who were aldermen in a Silesian city when Columbus discovered America. Ile pur- chased an extensive estate in Upper Silesia, in 1827, after finishing his studies at the University of Breslau, Germany. In 1830, he led to the altar Miss Emilie Hoefer, the eldest daughter of a wholesale merchant of a large neighboring city.
Paul was born in Silesia, on the 2d day of October, 1846, and was the youngest of the family. In 1848, his parents moved to Breslau, where the children were sent to the best schools in that place. Paul received his instructions at the St. Elizabeth and St. Mary Magdalene's College, of Breslau, and finished the necessary examinations for entering the university, in the spring of 1866.
Shortly after being matriculated in the medical faculty of the University of Bres- lau, the Austro-Prussian war broke out, and the young man entered the army service as a one-year volunteer, taking artillery for the troop of his choice. When the year of service was passed, he underwent the re- quired examinations to become an officer of the troop mentioned, in case further service became necessary. Then he returned to his studies, and finished in the next two years (that is, in the spring of 1869) the first terms of his medical education. So, being a candidate of medicine, his father sent him to the University of Wurzburg, then the very best medical school in existence.
551
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
After the first casual examination, the late famous Professor Scanzoni took a per- sonal interest in him, and opened the sick rooms of his clinic for his visits and instruc- tions at any spare time. Professor Mundc, now of New York, was Scanzoni's assistant then. In 1870, in March, he returned to Breslau. Professor Spiegelberg gave him the use of the obstetrical department of the university clinic to write an essay on "The Changes of the Infant's Skull in Passing through the Pelvis during Childbirth." This essay gave him the degree of Doctor of Medicine, magna cum lande, on the 20th of July, 1870. On this very day he was to enter the army, with the rank of first ser- geant of the artillery. Ile reported himself as M.D., and offered his services in that capacity. Hle was advised that he would be shortly reclaimed to the medical staff, but somehow matters were delayed, and he marched to France as a soldier. His captain had no physician to his company of field artillery, and asked him to perform the duties of a company surgeon. After the battles around New Breisach, the chief sur- geon of his corps wanted him to join his medical staff, but he preferred the excite- ment of the active service, that cnabled him to do medical work on the battle-field. Many a night, after a day of severe fighting, he stood on the battle-field until dawn, bandaging the wounded of his company to prepare them for transportation to the near- est hospital. Ilis company belonged to the corps of the famous General von Werder, who commanded in Alsace and Lorraine, and fought against Generals Garibaldi and Bourbaki.
During the four days' battle around Bel- fort, his company was very severely attacked by French infantry, and the doctor was sent to look for the ammunition that stood shel- tered behind a hill, when suddenly an or- derly appeared, calling for ammunition, as the French had approached very close, and there were no shells in the ammunition boxes of the guns. There was one long safe road around the hill, and a short one in the line of the French artillery. . Shell after shell was thrown in that road and exploded. Then he chose this road, and without losing a man or horse, arrived in time to have the attack repelled. His part in this battle was the means of his being awarded the
order of the "Iron Cross," the second in his family, as a brother of his father received it too, in 1813, in the war against the first Napoleon. Shortly after, the doctor was promoted to a lieutenancy of artillery.
When the war closed, Dr. Grossmann was ordered back to Germany, and was given charge of eight hundred French prisoners of war. After sending those men back to France, he was discharged and returned to Breslau, where Professor Spiegelberg offered him the place of second, or honse assistant in his clinic. After holding this position for nine months, and passing the examina- tion ordered by the government, the doctor was made first assistant surgeon of Spiegel- berg, who was then the leading gynæcolo- gist and obstetrician of Germany. During the time-three years and three months- that he held this position, he contributed frequently to medical journals and had ac- cess to the large material in the different departments of the clinics of the university hospitals, where thousands of sick were every year attended by the staff of surgeons. During his stay in the lying in hospitals in Wurzburg and Breslau, he had the opportu- nity of witnessing and attending over 3,000 cases of confinement.
In 1875, in the fall, the doctor concluded to find a place on the globe where medical services were better paid than at home. IIe started out with the ships of the Hamburg- American Steamship Co. to the United States, and, later on, to the West Indies and Central America, where he was offered an opening with good prospects. On his way there he wanted to visit the United States, and landed in New York City, in March, 1877. Before starting on his journey, Dr. Grossman was married, in England.
He arrived at Omaha in March, 1877, and being delayed here, began to practice. It proved to him a good field of work and he stayed. In 1880, on January 1st, he took charge of a department of the St. Joseph's Hospital, and has held it since. In May, 1882, he performed a Cæsarian section, after Porro's method-the sixth operation of this kind made in the United States, and the thirty-sixthi made altogether. In 1883, the doctor was offered the chair of surgery in the medical faculty of the State University, at Lincoln, but his lectures there demanded two days of cachi week, and, on account of
552
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMANIA.
his practice in Omaha, he resigned this posi- tion, as it interfered to much with his work in this city.
In May, 1885. he was married to Mrs. Amalia von Platen - Taylor, the second daughter of B. B. von Platen, then a colo- nel of Charles XV Prince Hussars. The von Platens are of German descent, who took up possessions in Finland, in the thirteenth cen- tury, dating their ancestry prior to the eleventh century, and were known among the crusaders. Amalia von Platen received her education at home, by the best of in- structors, in science. music, literature and fancy needle-work, finishing her course of education in the best convent school that then existed, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and afterwards at Hanover, Germany. Mrs. Grossmann is quite an accomplished linguist, being able to converse fluently in five lang- nages.
In 1890, Dr. Grossmann was offered and accepted the position of local surgeon of the Missouri Pacific Railway, and, in 1891, he was appointed consulting surgeon of the Union Pacific System.
When, in 1892, the Creighton University opened a medical department, he was chosen professor of clinical medicine and medical director of the new Creighton memorial hos- pital (St. Joseph's), one of the largest and best equipped hospitals west of Chicago. lle is a member of the Omaha Medical Society and of the National Association of Railway Surgeons.
The only son of the doctor is now finish- ing his medical course in the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Grossmann's only brother, Julius Grossmann, Ph.D., is librarian and counsellor of archives of the Emperor of Germany, and is considered an eminent authority on modern history, throughout the continent.
DR. WILLIAM HENRY IIANCHETT was born in Illinois, near the city of Chicago, in 1854, being the second of five sons, four of whom are homeopathic physicians.
Ilis father, David IIanchett, was born in Hartford, Connectient, and is able to trace his family history baek for many generations in America. John HIanchett was one of the men who founded the city of Boston, and from him down the doctor has the record of the birth and death of all his ancestors since that time. Among his ancestors in New
England were prominent officers in the Revolutionary War. It is with pride that Dr. Ilanchett traces his ancestry back to the energetic people of that favored land. His mother, Fayetta Churchill, was born in New York. Her father, Alfred Churchill, was prominent among the early settlers of Chi- cago. She is a very charitable woman and of beautiful character. From this ancestral stock, the doctor has inherited a personal energy, which has characterized his profes- sional life and made him successful in what he has undertaken.
He graduated at the Chicago IIomeo- pathic Medical College in 1879. After prac- ticing several years in the East, he located in Omaha in 1884. At this time there were few homeopathic practitioners in this city, and it gave him an ample field for work. Ilis energy and success in the treatment of the sick soon won for him a large and lucrative practice, until to-day he enjoys the reputa- tion of being one of the most successful phy- sicians in the West. Ile is often called long distances in consultation with physicians not only throughout Nebraska, but oftentimes to other states.
Ilis skill and judgment in medical matters have been acknowledged in many ways by the physicians of the West. He is at present president of the Nebraska State Homeo- pathic Medical Society which, under his di- rection, has had a remarkably prosperous year in its growth. He has also held the office of secretary and vice-president of this same society, and has had much to do with the moulding of this great organization for homeopathy in the West. In political and civic societies he has held important . positions, and wielded an influence of much force. For three years he held the office of surgeon-general of the State of Nebraska for the order of the Knights of Pythias.
He has for the past five years been editor of the general practice department of the Medi- cal and Surgical Record of Nebraska, and his editorials and articles have been of a pecu- liarly practical turn, for which characteristic he is noted as a physician.
Dr. Hanchett is a member of the Ameri- can Institute of Homeopathy, and for years has attended the meetings of this national society of the homeopathic school as a dele- gate from his state.
The doctor is a thoroughly Western man and has unbounded faith in the resources of
553
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCILES.
this great country, and especially, has been a hard worker for the up-building of Omaha. Ile has always taken a live interest in the improvements of this city. IIe has recently built one of the finest homes in Omaha, where le now resides, and where he greatly en- joys entertaining his friends with true hos- pitality.
His wife, Ida MeMicken, was born in Illi- nois, and is of Scotch descent. She was educated at Vassar College, and is a woman of remarkable intelligence and generosity. To no woman of Omaha can more credit belong, for the organization and develop- ment of literary work and true refinement. Several years ago Mrs. Hanchett organized a reading club, at her home, especially for the benefit of young women. From that small beginning has grown the Cleofan, with its two chapters. Chapter I is organ- ized for the married women of Omaha, and its members are among the brightest women of the city. Chapter II is for young women, and especially in this society, Mrs. Hanchett has done much for those employed in offices and stores, as well as for many of the teachers of the city. Her services have always been gratuitous, and her work has been for the good she could do others.
The doctor has two children-a son and a daughter - Reid Churchill Hanchett and Ilope Hanchett.
Since writing the above, Dr. Hanchett has heen honored by an appointment on the staff of visiting physicians to the Douglas County Ilospital, and also on the medical staff of the Methodist Hospital, also the Presbyterian Hospital of Omaha. He has recently been elected president of the Omaha Homeopathic Medical Society.
E. T. ALLEN, M. D.
PIERCE C. HIMEBAUGH was born January 9, 1840, in Erie, Erie County, Penn- sylvania. Ilis father's name was Mathias Himebaugh. Both his parents died when Pierce was but a small boy, in the town where he was born. An older brother, Orlando, was appointed his guardian. This brother settled near Geneva, Illinois, soon after, taking his young ward with him. Pierce was educated in the common schools of the neighborhood for several years, when his guardian moved to Nebraska, about ten miles north of Fremont, taking his young brother with him. Here the latter lost his
health and returned to Illinois, making his home at Sycamore, where, at the age of twenty-four, he began his business career, by conducting a flour mill, which he continued for several years-also one in Rochelle, Illinois, for six years.
In 1869, Mr. Ilimebaugh went to Chicago and was engaged in the grain commission business until 1875, when he sold out and engaged in the grain business in the firm of Wanzer & Co. He was connected with that firm about a year.
Mr. Himebaugh came to Nebraska in 1876, located in Omaha, and engaged in grain business in connection with the firm of Wanzer & Co., of Chicago, which he con- tinued for about eighteen months. IIe then formed a partnership with C. W. Ly- man in the same business; the style of the firm was C. W. Lyman & Co. This firm built the Union elevator "A" in sixty days. Mr. Lyman's interest in the firm was then pur- chased by N. Merriam, and the firm name was afterward changed to Himebaugh & Merriam. The elevator "A,"which the firm owned, had a capacity of 200,000 bushels, and the elevator "B," which the firm leased, but in which they had an interest of thirty- five per cent, had a storage capacity of 700,000 bushels and cost $125,000. As early as 1881, the firm employed twenty men and handled at the rate of about 3,000,000 bushels of grain a year. The trade had increased to that extent, from the shipment of one car load a day, when they began business, to eighty-five car loads, at the date just mentioned. Afterwards the business largely increased. The firm had large warehouses and elevators in other parts of the State, down to the date of Mr. Ilimebaugh's decease.
Mr. Ilimebaugh was president of the Y. M. C. A., of Omaha, seven years and vice- president one year. He donated to the society, while he was president, more than $12,000, which was put into their fine build- ing in the city. He was married at Sycamore, Illinois, December 6, 1864, to Annette C. Johnson, a native of Vermont. There is one child, Grace L., of this marriage living.
Mr. Himebangh died in San Jose. Califor- nia, April 1, 1890. The funeral took place at 3 p.m., the third day. The services were held at the Ilotel Vendome, where he breathed his last, by Rev. Dr. Wakefield, the Episcopal clergyman of San Jose. Ilis remains were
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMANIA.
interred temporarily, pending arrangements for their removal to Omaha.
He was a member of the Congregational Church and gave one-tenth of all his income to religion and charity. Ile was always spoken of as a man of great liberality and benevolence, and was well known for his generosity, which continually endeared him to all who came in contact with him. No man who has ever lived in Omaha was more noted than he for absolute purity of prin- ciple and excellence of character.
GEORGE A. HOAGLAND has been well known in commercial circles, and con- nected with one of the principal mercantile establishments of Nebraska since as a boy, more than thirty years ago, he came to Omaha, where he has since continuously resided.
Ilis father, George T. Hoagland, a native of New Jersey and now a prominent citizen of St. Joseph, Missouri, soon after his mar- riage with Miss Nancy A. Gale, of Massa- chusetts, removed to Boonville, Missouri, where George A. Hoagland was born May 20, 1843. The family moved to St. Joseph in 1852, where the elder Hoagland engaged in the lumber business, and the son acquired the rudiments of an education which was supplemented with a year's study at Weston, Missouri, and another year spent at the col- lege at Liberty, Missouri, from which he re- turned at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, when the practical work of education in that state was suspended. Accepting his father's offer of a situation as clerk in the lumber business, which had been established the spring previous, he came to Omaha in August of 1861 and assumed the duties of the position. The firm name was Geo. T. Hoagland & Co., the junior partner being George Bebbington, and the business was carried on upon the ground now occu- pied by the Millard Hotel, the office being in a small room over Visscher's carpenter shop, which stood in the yard.
George liked the business, soon learned it and concluded to make Omaha his future home. On May 22, 1864, George A. Hoag- land and Janthe C. Wyman, daughter of W. W. Wyman, Esq., a prominent journalist of this city, were married. Of this marriage seven children have been born, of whom five are still living, viz: Emma Bell, Laura Maria, William Wyman, Paul Ingalls and
Helen Lemon. The two oldest of these have lateiy visited Europe and the West Indies to complete their education with a sight of foreign lands; the oldest son is engaged in business with his father, and the others are at school.
In the year 1865 Mr. Bebbington sold his interest, and the firm name became George T. Hoagland & Son, George A. becoming resident partner and manager. The con- struction of the Union Pacific Railroad which soon after followed, gave a great im- petus to trade in Omaha, and especially to the lumber business, large demands for lumber being frequently made, and a thor- ough acquaintance with the class of material demanded and having it constantly in stock, enabled this firm to fill large orders. It was no unusual thing for G. W. Frost, then pur- chasing agent for the Union Pacific, to drive over to the Hoaglands' place of busi- ness and ask how much of a certain kind of lumber they had in stock, and on learning the amount, without stopping to ask the price, to say: "All right, send it down right away." An order of this kind often amounted to $15,000 or $20,000, and $50,000 or $60,000 worth of lumber was often sup- plied within sixty days. The country trade, too was good, and as this was the point from which supplies were transported westward by wagon, it frequently happened that parties hanled lumber as far west as 100 or 150 miles, and large lots went to Columbus, 93 miles from Omaha, in this way. It is no unfrequent thing now for Mr. Hoagland to meet men in his trips out into the state who remind him of the purchases they made from him "away back in the sixties" and hauled across the prairies to build their honses and other buildings. It was in 1871 or '72 that Geo. A. Hoagland determined to change the method of doing the wholesale lumber business which had before been done at Chicago and other eastern centers, and make Omaha a wholesale place from which shipments should be made direct. In this he was warmly opposed by Chicago mer- chants and others who ridiculed the idea, but the present immense business in this line done here thoroughly vindicates Mr. Hoag- land's judgment.
In January, 1874, Geo. A. Iloagland pur- chased his father's interest and became sole proprietor of the business, which moved along very smoothly until 1881, when the
555
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
great flood in the Missouri River made the bottom lands, occupied by the lumber yards, navigable for steamboats and ruined a great amount of lumber, Mr. Hoagland's loss on this occasion amounting to $20,000.
With the building up of this city this busi- ness has greatly increased. Not only is a large business done in Omaha, but about twenty branches for the retail trade have from time to time been established on the Union Pacific and Burlington & Missouri River roads in Nebraska, and also a yard at Council Bluffs. where Mr. lloagland does the leading busi- ness.
George A. Hoagland's success in life illus- trates the old proverb: " Keep your shop and your shop will keep you." No merchant in Omaha has attended more closely to busi- ness than he. The result of this is that the capital now employed is $500,000, and the annual sales which during the first year did not exceed forty or fifty car loads, have recently amounted to 60,000,000 feet in one year. enough to load 4,500 or 5,000 cars, which would make a solid train over thirty miles in length, or long enough to reach from Omaha to Valley station on the Union Pacific road. The shrewdness, fore- sight and winning qualities which made him successful in business have often cre- ated opportunities for Mr. Hoagland to become a candidate for political offices, but his natural modesty, conservatism and freedom from political ambitions have never permitted him to accept such offers, and he contents himself with the discharge of his duties as a private citizen, unassuming kindness to those in need, and to the manage- ment of his own affairs.
JÅMES KERR ISII was born January 10, 1836, in Alde, Loudoun County, Virginia. His father was Jolin Ish, who was the real builder of the town, and was in active busi- ness for many years, afterward moving to Harper's Ferry, where the mother of the subject of this sketch, formerly Miss Batson, of Virginia, died-the father going thence to Galveston and ending his days there, dying with yellow fever.
James, at the age of twelve. was appren- ticed to a Mr. Wiseman, in Baltimore, in the drug business, remaining with him about eight years, when he removed to St. Louis, when he was taken to Boonville by Speed & Rochelle, druggists, and given employment
in a drug store of the firm as clerk. Ile re- mained there about two years, going thence to Omaha, where he arrived in 1856, still in the employ of Speed & Rochelle, who opened in the city a branch store. Ile was clerk for a short time longer, when he was taken in as a partner, the firm name then being changed to Speed, Rochelle & Co.
Subsequently, Mr. Ish purchased the interest of Speed, when the business was carried on in the name of Ish & Co. A few years after, Mr. Rochelle sold his interest to Mr. Ish, who then carried on the trade alone, taking in a partner (Lawrence McMahon) on the first of July, 1880, the firm conduct- ing business under the name of Ish & Mc- Mahon.
Doctor Ish (for so he was known to all in Omaha and Nebraska) was taken sick while on a pleasure trip to the North, and return- ing home, died August 9, 1881, and was buried at Grass Lake, Michigan, the old family burying ground of his wife. The in- terest of the deceased remained in the firm until February 1, 1882, when the name was changed to McMahon, Abert & Co.
The subject of this sketch was married to Martha M. Cook, October 26, 1867, at Adrian, Michigan, his wife surviving him, and is still a resident of Omaha, a lady of more than ordinary worth and of unusual business capacity. There is but one child-James Cook Ish-of this marriage, who was born August 13, 1869, in Omaha, and is now con- nected with the B. & M. Railroad.
While in active life in Omaha, Doctor Ish had almost the entire control of the drug trade, doing a wholesale and retail business, but at the time of his death the firm of Ish & McMahon had given up the retail trade entirely. Ile was treasurer of Douglas County for two terms. Ile was a very prominent Mason, and was buried with the rites of that order. He was a Democrat in politics; was liberal and of a benevolent dis- position; giving to religious institutions of all kinds, donating largely to public im- provements, and to charitable purposes gen- erally; and was in all respects a substan- tial and worthy citizen of Omaha.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.